Drivers frustrated by Gold Coast chicanes
Leading drivers have vented their frustrations with Gold Coast’s chicane kerb sensor system after a ‘confusing’ Friday.
The time screens lit up with kerb hops during Friday’s two 30-minute practice sessions.
The likes of Cam Waters, Will Davison and Shane van Gisbergen — Practice 2’s top three — all copped strikes.
There is a kerb sensor at Turn 2 — the right-hander in the middle of the front chicane.
There are four sensors at the beach chicane, from Turns 7 to 10.
There are tyre bundles and raised kerbs at both chicanes.
Considering 29 of 30 Gold Coast races have been won from the front row, drivers can't afford to lose lap times in qualifying.
That's the case for van Gisbergen and Waters, who are the only drivers left in the championship fight.
“My car’s pretty good,” van Gisbergen said.
"I did a mint first sector, got a bit more angle at Turn 1 and popped a kerb sensor.
“It is what it is, it’s the same for everyone. It feels random at the same time as well.
"As drivers you don’t know where the line is, you kind of just wing it and hope.
“A few times there I cut and didn’t get a kerb hop. I’m very confused.
“You have no idea in the car when you’re hopping or not.”
Davison, who topped Practice 1, added: "Today was one of the more confusing ones I’ve had here over the years.
“We collectively are all trying to find a good solution so I don’t want to sit here and shitcan it too much, but it was very frustrating.
“It seemed to change a lot. Whether it’s changing your car so it sits up on two wheels more.
“But certainly I’d get cuts at the end there and I wasn’t cutting the corner, but I couldn’t set it off in the first one.
“It is annoying because I literally drove around on new tyres.
“You’re just thinking about how not to set it off and you don’t really know where your reference is.
“You just go conservative in the end, just to get a lap on the board.
“A bit annoying because it’s fun, it’s really fun through the chicanes… but sometimes it’s just a bit of a lottery.”
Waters, who is the only driver who can prevent van Gisbergen winning the title, said: "Just guess and hope that we don’t set them off.
"I think that’s the frustrating thing… we drive the car to a point everywhere, with a bit of braking or where we turn or where we pick up the throttle.
"We kind of dictate where all that is… but with the kerbs, we feel like we can’t set them off consistently, and drive to that.
“We’re all doing different things, and they’re all setting off at different times.
"We can’t drive to them consistently — I think that’s more what we’re trying to get at."
Cars will return to the track on Saturday at 11:25am local time for ARMOR ALL Qualifying.
